The Evelyn Koshnitsky Foundation was created in dedication to the memory of Evelyn Koshnitsky AM BEM, and her husband Garry Koshnitsky MBE, who worked tirelessly throughout their lives to promote chess across Australia. Evelyn in particular did everything to encourage girls and women to play, and among her many other initiatives Evelyn was responsible for setting up The Australian Women’s Chess League.

To honour her work, the Foundation will continue to further her aims of encouraging girls and women across Australia to play the noble game of chess. By awarding prizes from the Memorial Trust to girls who do particularly well in mixed competitions or who have other notable chess achievements (at the discretion of the trustees), the Foundation aims to continue Evelyn’s legacy.

We encourage any potential sponsors whose lives have been enriched by chess to support this Foundation and ensure that their work live on.

May 1, 2017

Many of us were very fortunate to have known Evelyn and Gary for much of our lives and many of the following posts should trigger memories of all that they did to help chess here. These are extracts from the chess columns published in the Sunday mail over the decades and they should give a sense of what was happening back then and the part played by the Koshs back then – it was simply huge.

January 27, 2018

Chess is a game of strategy and tactics; long-term plans spiced with juicy combinations. This same policy has been applied by the SA Chess Association to consolidate and develop chess in this State. The main strategy in 1985 has been to promote junior chess and the assistance given by the SA Department of Recreation and Sport has been invaluable.

Another plan has been to ensure that the chess calendar for our Jubilee Year is packed with a rich and diverse range of chess activities, appealing to both beginners and experts. 1986 is going to be a great year.

A key element to any good strategy is knowledge of past events – history – and the long awaited fourth Volume of Australian Chess Lore has just been published. One of its many absorbing articles is that on part of the career of our own Garry Koshnitsky and here is a sample game.

Junior Prizes were given to those Girls playing in the Open events at the Australian Junior Championships which took place in Adelaide in 2016 at Walford College.

In 2018, prizes will be awarded to:

the winners of the Evelyn Koshnitsky Girls Tournament in term 4, 2018

The winning Girls Teams in both the Secondary Girls & Primary Girls Competitions in the Australian Schools Teams Championships happening in Adelaide over 1st & 2nd December 2018

The Women’s Tournament that will be part of the Lidums Australian Young Masters also taking place in Adelaide in December 2018.

We also plan to support future Women Olympiad Teams with their travel expenses.

And .. of course ..

the 2019 Australian Junior Championship

Memories of Evelyn

Many thanks to Cathy Rogers for the wonderful photograph being used on this site.

Please click on one of the titles below to read about people’s memories of Evelyn.

Sunday Mail – 23 Feb 1990 – state of chess in 1990

Chess has languished as a recreation in Australia for many years through a lack of promotion, a scarcity of funds and its inability to compete with the surf and the sun. But now the anguish is over and chess appears at last to be heading for a boom.

Chess – the Musical is already playing to capacity crowds in Sydney and right on time has come the appointment of some dynamic new chess administrators, many new sponsors and an influx of very strong players.

SA has been extremely lucky over the past 3 decades to have had Australia’s best chess administrators in the shape of Mr and Mrs Koshnitsky (congratulations to Evelyn on her award, the Order of Australia, in this year’s Honours List) but the rest of the country hasn’t been so lucky. But this has changed radically in recent months with some remarkable appointments, the most significant being the election of Mr Peter Wallman, the major sponsor (with the Bicentennial Authority) of the World Junior here in Adelaide in ’88, as the President of the Australian Chess Federation.

Other big moves have been the election of Victorian Champion Guy West as President of the VCA and Queensland Champion Craig Laird as President of the QCA. In a way it’s a bit of a shame that two of our Olympiad players have turned part-time administrators as it must affect their chess, but their knowledge of overseas chess can only be beneficial to the game.

SA has also been very fortunate in the past few years to have had wonderful support from the Adsteam-Lidums Chess foundation and SA’s Department of Recreation and Sport (and many others like CMC, SGIC, BP and Satchel Software) but the rest of Australia hasn’t been so lucky. Now, however, with sponsors like Cepacol who staged this year’s National Championships, Mercantile Mutual Insurance – the Australian Grand Prix and WestPac – the Australian Masters, things are looking wonderful.

Sunday Mail – 28 Sep 1988 – Bicentennial World Junior

Today marks the final round of the 1988 Bicentennial World Junior Chess Championships being played at Seymour College. The tournaments will make an enormous impact on junior chess in this country. It has been a real privilege to see the best of the world’s top juniors ‘at work’.

Sincere thanks must go to the chief sponsors: Peter Wallman & Co, Sport ’88 and the major sponsors: SGIC, Novag and the State Government – Dept. of Recreation and Sport. Special thanks must also go to a host of other companies and individuals, but in particular, Garry and Evelyn Koshnitsky, without whom these Championships would merely have remained a dream.

Some sensational games from the tournaments will appear in the next few weeks. With luck, they may well reach the level of this following classic, rated as one of the most profound games ever played.

Sunday Mail – 2 May 1988 School chess

Interschool chess is once again in full swing and about 1500 students (from Primary to Year 12) are again competing in matches on Friday evenings.

Despite the obvious interest and the proven benefits for students, it is a shame that few schools actually teach chess. Many teachers know how to play the game, but it’s such a big subject that it is hard to know where to begin and how much to put in a course. Fortunately help is at hand!

The secretary of the Junior Chess League, Mrs Evelyn Koshnitsky, has recently imported two wonderful books called ‘Comprehensive Chess Course’ – Volumes 1 and 2. They are virtually a ‘must’ for anyone (even a novice) who wants to teach chess. The books are packed with wonderful examples (see this week’s game) and diagrams and illustrate all the important ideas in a lucid and delightful fashion. They are available from Mrs K, 139 Fisher St, Malvern 5061 and cost $60 for the pair – not cheap, but top quality never is!

Sunday Mail – 15 Feb 1987 – Kevin Perrin

Summer is a particularly brutal time for umpires. Their every action is under intense scrutiny and their only recognition is either a perfunctory ‘thank you’ at the end of an event or a controversy that rages for months. Their main satisfaction is from ‘a job well done’.

Kevin Perrin, an International chess arbiter living in Ballarat, was the Chief Arbiter at the recent Adsteam-Lidums International and must have been well pleased with his efforts – Australia’s largest-ever chess tournament was a delight for players and spectators alike.

Kevin’s calm professionalism and attention to details ensured that the tournament went without a hitch and drew praise from many overseas guests, including the Grandmasters who can, on occasions, dare I say, be a bit ‘prima donna’ish.

Congratulations and thanks must also go to the Assistant Arbiters – Bill Anderson-Smith, Brad Walshe, Roly Eime, Don Barrett, John Vandersman and Gordon Males (also from Ballarat) – a small but highly dedicated team.

Credit that South Australia could stage a world class chess event that really was world class must of course go to Aivars Lidums, the Chairman of the Organising Committee and Evelyn and Garry Koshnitsky. A year of preparation that must have seemed a lifetime!

Sunday Mail 13 Nov 1986 – Adsteam Lidums

The number of entrants for the Adsteam-Lidums International Chess Tournament appears likely to exceed all expectations. The event has attracted more than seventy overseas players and now, with barely 6 weeks before the start, the field includes eight grandmasters and over a dozen International Masters.

Top seed for the tournament is the 35 year old grandmaster Gyula Sax, currently rated 19th in the world. Sax’s entry, confirmed by a phone call to Hungary only a few weeks ago, is music to the organisers’ ears. He will be accompanied by his wife Beatrix who will also play in the tournament.

Many thanks are due to Bruce and Bev Dedman of Kidman Park for billetting the couple. If you also are able to billet any of our overseas guests, please contact the tournament’s accommodation organiser, Mrs Evelyn Koshnitsky on 271 8009.

Here is a sample of Gyula’s play. The games of the other 7 GMS will be featured over the next few weeks.

Mentions of Evelyn and Gary Koshnitsky from the Sunday Mail columns – from 1986 ->

Many of us were very fortunate to have known Evelyn and Gary for much of our lives and many of the following posts should trigger memories of all that they did to help chess here. These are extracts from the chess columns published in the Sunday mail over the decades and they should give a sense of what was happening back then and the part played by the Koshs back then – it was simply huge.

Alan Goldsmith

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Founded by World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, KCF’s mission is to bring the many educational benefits of chess to children worldwide by providing a complete chess curriculum and enrichment programs. The Foundation promotes the study of chess as a cognitive learning tool in curricular classes and after-school programs for elementary, middle and high schools, both in the public and private school sectors. The not-for-profit Foundation also organizes regional, national, and worldwide tournaments, programs for talented students, and promotional chess events.